Suhaan’s legacy will be to help others all over world
WELLS IN POORER COUNTRIES
TRIBUTES have been paid to an Evington schoolboy who died suddenly earlier this month.
The death of Suhaan Harikumar, a 14-year-old pupil at Manor High School, in Oadby, has left his family and tight-knit group of friends shocked and heartbroken.
His mum, Shehnaaz, said she is now struggling to get through each day, not knowing how she will live the rest of her life without him.
“We were so close,” she told the Mercury. “He shared everything with me and we made a point to take time out to spend together.”
The teenager often enjoyed walks and appreciated nature but, his mum said “above all, he loved gaming”.
“I don’t know much about gaming but he would always make time to do something with me and catch up,” Shehnaaz said.
Suhaan leaves behind his mum and two sisters aged 11 and four.
“He really looked after them and to the four-year-old, he was her world,” Shehnaaz said.
A file on Suhaan’s death has been submitted to the city coroner’s office, which is due to review the case later this year.
Shehnaaz said she was “immensely proud” of her son, particularly watching him grow up significantly during the lockdown.
In recent years, she said Suhaan had taken to the idea of one day becoming a geography teacher.
“I told him that he should look for a job that will sustain him going forward and he said he was never too worried about money – he preferred to give back.
“He was the kind of boy who wouldn’t think before giving,” she said.
In his memory, she has launched a charity crowd-funding campaign that will go towards building water wells for poor rural communities internationally.
Katy Wheatley, the mother of
MONEY RAISED IN MEMORY OF TRAGIC TEEN WILL PAY FOR
Suhaan was such a kind of, gentle person. He was a lovely kid – he really was
one of Suhaan’s friends, said the idea was fitting and one that “will keep the goodness of him travelling forward in the world in some way”. She said her son Oscar, 14, was one of Suhaan’s close friends. “They were all part of a group that were always doing things together. “This has been a total shock but the boys are all close and supporting each other,” she said.
“Oscar always said that Suhaan was such a kind, gentle person. He was a lovely kid – he really was.”
With school restarting in the coming week, Katy said that the tight group of friends are all very conscious of the gap that Suhaan’s death will leave.
“Oscar has told me that he doesn’t want people to forget him,” she said.
Anisha Mal, 41, a close family friend of Shehnaaz described Suhaan as a “caring friend and big brother”.
Her son, Shayden, had been close with Suhaan and asked his parents if he could attend the burial.
“Suhaan was a very caring friend and he was a joker. He always came
out with these one-liner jokes,” Anisha said.
As of yesterday, Shehnaaz had raised just under £2,400 in his memory, with a target of £10,000.
The Ali Asghar Water Appeal, run by The World Federation charity, will spend all the money raised on building wells in countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Kenya.
Each new well will provide clean water to poor, rural communities helping to provide people with sanitation, cleaning, cooking and the means to grow their own food.
To donate, search “Suhaan” at:
Katy Wheatley